01/04/2023

This lesson introduces you to

Lecture 03 biological effects of radiation
By the end of the lesson, you should be able
to:
Biological effects of • explain how radiation dose varies by area of

radiation exposure, type of radiation, and tissue type

• define and calculate equivalent dose and effective
dose
• discuss the three categories of biological radiation
effect
• explain the effect of radiation on DNA molecules.
1 2

Routes of entry
Effects of radiation

3 4

Radiation exposure Radiation Doses (Dosimetry)

Type of radiation exposure Dose in mSv • The absolute amount of energy absorbed in the
body and the biological effects are related to:
Eating one normal banana 0.0001
• the size of the exposed area or body – for
Dental X-ray image 0.01
the same absolute amount of radiation, a larger
X-ray image of the chest 0.03 body will feel less effect, so the measures of
Mammography 0.5 radiation exposure must be inherently about the
Scintigraphy of the thyroid gland 0.8 exposure per kilogram of tissue.
Annual dose for heavy smoker 1 • the radiation type – some types of radiation
Computed tomography (CT) of the chest 10 are intrinsically more damaging than others.
Maximum lifetime dose for exposed 400 • the distribution of the dose – some tissues of
workers in Europe the body are more sensitive to radiation than
Lethal dose 4000 5 others. 6

1
 01/04/2023

The size of the exposed area or The units of radiation doses

body • The units taking account of each of the three
factors are:
• The amount of energy absorbed, the energy dose
in Grays (Gy) is worked out by looking at the
exposure per kilogram.
• The equivalent dose in Sieverts (Sv) is worked
out by also taking account of the radiation type.
• Finally, the effective dose in Sv is found by
additionally taking account of the different tissues
exposed. This last measure takes account of all
the effects, and is the most common unit.
7 8

Other units of than Grays Radiation Weighting WR Factors

• One Joule per kilogram is called one Gray
• This is the potential effect of radiation
(Gy), i.e., 1Gy = 1J/Kg
damage (equivalent dose) weighted on the
• The old unit rad (radiation absorbed dose), is type of radiation.
one hundredth of a Gray, i.e., 1rad = 0.01Gy
• Electrons, for example, ionise relatively
• Another quantity used for the amount of weakly while, by contrast, α rays give a high
charge created by radiation, the Roentgen ionisation density. a and neutrons do about
(R). 1 Roentgen = 8.8mGy. 20 times more damage than b and g.
• The Gray, the rad and the Roentgen describe • Therefore, the normal biological repair
the pure physical energy absorption. mechanisms are less likely to be effective
after damage caused by α rays.
9 10

Radiation Weighting (WR) Factors… Radiation Weighting WR Factors…

• To make biological effectiveness of a radiation,
the energy dose is multiplied by the
relevant radiation weighting factor to find
the equivalent dose in Sv.
• E.g., assume a radiation worker in a processing
plant is accidentally exposed to an energy dose
of 20mGy from α particles, and 50mGy from g
radiation.
• His equivalent dose is given by the sum of these
energy doses with their weighting, i.e.
11
(20mGy × 20+50mGy × 1)mSv = 450mSv. 12

2
 01/04/2023

Tissue Weighting WT Factors… Tissue Weighting (WT) Factors…

• This is the potential effect of radiation Tissue/organ Factor (WT)
damage (effective dose) weighted on the type Gonads 0.20
of tissues.
Red bone marrow, colon, stomach, lung,
• This is premised on the fact that different 0.12
chest
tissues have different sensitivity to
radiations. Bladder, liver, breast, oesophagus, thyroid
gland 0.05
• E.g., the red born marrow is more sensitive
to radiation than the skin. Skin, bone surface, brain, salivary glands 0.01
Other tissue and organs 0.05
13 14

Tissue Weighting Factors… Summary of radiation units

• The effective dose is calculated by
multiplying the partial-body doses with
the appropriate tissue weighting factors.
• E.g., a radiation worker has collected a broken
radioactive source with his bare hands (skin
dose 20mSv), which he should not have done,
and carried it in his lab coat pocket (5mSv
each for the lung and chest). The effective dose
is then worked out to be (20×0.01 + 5×0.12 +
5×0.12)mSv = 1.4mSv.
15 16

Radiation effects
• These are signs, symptoms and other outcomes
that arise from the exposure of living cells or
tissues to sources of radiation.
• The biological effect of ionising radiation is a
A) Radiation effects of ionising consequence of the energy transfer, by ionisation
radiations and excitation, to cells in the body.
• Usually they are divided into three different
categories: early, delayed, and genetic.
• The nature and severity of the symptoms and the
time at which they appear  the amount of
radiation absorbed.
17 18

3
 01/04/2023

Early (acute) effects of radiation

Radiation
• This radiation damage occurs immediately after
effects the irradiation, and only appears for high
radiation doses.
• From a whole-body dose of 0.25Sv upwards, it is
possible to see the effects using a blood test
(haemogram).
• For doses of around 1Sv, clear symptoms of
radiation sickness are to be expected.
• For a whole-body dose of 4Sv, the chance of
survival is 50%. This dose is called the lethal dose.
19
• For a dose of 7Sv, the death rate is nearly 100% 20

Early (acute) effects of radiation Early (acute) effects of radiation

• For high radiation doses, symptoms of radiation • Erythema (skin reddening) is another effect
sickness headaches, nausea and vomiting occur which shows up soon after acute exposure
within a few hours and then disappear.
• After a quiet period of several days, the second • Larger skin exposures may lead to blistering
phase of the radiation sickness starts. The and ulceration
symptoms include fever, haemorrhage, vomiting of
blood, bloody faeces and loss of hair.
• For the highest doses, the quiet phase will be
shorter or may even not occur. If the victim
survives for eight weeks, there is a good of
recovery. However, death can occur after several
Damage to the hands from high-dose x-ray exposure
months. 21 22

Threshold dose for early (acute) Deterministic vs stochastic effects

effects after irradiation
• There is a threshold dose for early effects
after irradiation, below which no lasting
damage is observed.
• The smallest value of the threshold is about
0.5Sv (which is when the exposure all
happened at once), and it is closer to 1Sv if
the dose is spread over a longer period.

23 24

4
 01/04/2023

Delayed radiation damage Delayed radiation damage

• Delayed (or “late”) effects are those which • The total cancer risk per absorbed dose of 10
occur after a long dormant period, which can mSv is estimated to be about 5×10−4.
be several decades long. The most common and • This means that out of 10 000 people being
most frequently-discussed late effect is cancer. irradiated with 10 mSv, on average five of these
• In contrast to early effects, whose severity is will later develop cancer due to that exposure.
related to the dose received, delayed radiation- • The same probability is true that any person is
damage effects represent a so-called the victim of a fatal accident (say, a traffic
stochastic risk. accident, or an accident in the home).
• This means that the probability of each negative • Other effects include, sterility in animals,
including humans, abnormal fetal development
outcome rises with increasing dose, but the (teratogenicity) and cataract (visual impairment).
severity of each outcome does not.
25 26

Genetic damage Genetic damage

• During the reproductively significant age of
• Radiation absorption in germ cells (the humans (up to the age of 40), about 160 germ-
precursors to eggs and sperm) can result in cell mutations occur due to environmental
mutations. factors. A radiation exposure of 10 mSv will add
• For the irradiated person, the mutations are another 2 mutations on average.
not recognisable: they only manifest in the • The average risk factor for these radiation effects
following generations. is estimated to be 10−4 per 10 mSv (i.e. one
• Damage to dominant genes tend to give 1st sufferer would be expected if 10 000 people
generation disorders whereas damage to received 10 mSv).
recessive genes may lead to problems in • This number includes the effect on the first two
later generations. generations. After this, the probability of
27
transmission is very small. 28

Damage on DNA Damage on the DNA backbone

1) Direct fracture on one of the DNA-helixes.
• This is usually repaired quickly, in under 1 hour by
the DNA repair mechanism.
2) Direct fracture on both of the DNA-helixes.
• The damage is impossible to repair, since there is
no template any longer for repair machinery to
correct the defect.

29 30

5
 01/04/2023

3) Damage to one of the DNA base 4) UV damage to adjacent thymine

• Ionisation due to radiation generates free radical. bases
The free radicals can cause DNA damage by • This block replication as the bases are unable to
bringing about chemical changes in the DNA. It make base pairing with adenine.
can be serious if the repair system is not able to
repair the damages as fast as they are formed.

31 32

B) What about non-ionising What about non-ionising radiation?

radiation? • To ionise atoms in human tissue, an energy of
approximately 30eV is required. Therefore,
radiation with frequencies below 1016 Hz
(corresponding to 30 eV) is termed non-ionising.
• The potential for harmful consequences from non-
ionising radiation comes from two other effects:
heating and electric currents.
• The higher-frequency forms of non-ionising
radiation (a large range of wavelengths between
UV and microwaves) cause significant heating of
the human body if they have high enough intensity.
33 34

Microwave Microwave
• Injuries will occur on exposure to high
microwave intensities due to the heating of
the body absorbing the radiation.
• Especially vulnerable are the lens of the eye
and the cornea, since they do not contain
blood vessels which can carry away the heat.
• On irradiation, the lens of the eye may
become opaque, causing a cataract.

35 36

6
 01/04/2023

Microwave Ultraviolet (UV)

It is often said that
• High UV does can cause sunburn.
people get a warm ear
after a long conversation • Inflammations of the cornea (keratitis) and
cataract of the eye may also occur due
on a mobile exposure to UV.
phone, and that this has
• The most serious late effect is skin cancer, the
to do with the radiation
first being basal cell carcinoma, and the
emitted by it. second being malignant melanoma which is a
very severe medical condition since it has the
tendency to form metastases (i.e. to spread).
“I no longer suffer from cold ears, because I use
my mobile phone in winter!”
37 38

UV light is
used to kill
bacteria

39 40

Next lecture

Application of radiation...

41